Velvet Antlers

[couesdeerhntr]

And in bmls pictures of his mount it looks like a winter coat. Compared to his picture of field kill

[WildHeritageTaxidermy]

I was told that the best thing to do is instead of using the summer coat is to have the taxi put a winter coat on a shoulder mount because of the hair falling out from summer coat and u wouldn't have that happen with a winter coat. Is this true I know when I shot my coues in august there was hair all over the place when I was gutting and packing out. Can't the tanner fix that? I told my taxi to just keep it how it was I want it to look just how it did when I shot it but will the hair fall out and make the mount look crappy?

 

I wouldn't say the" best thing to do is to use a winter coat" it is true that late summer coats can look a little ragged and be shedding. It is more a personal preference if you want the cape to be the one harvested with the buck and all of its rubs and imperfections or if you prefer an Oct. or later cape. Also, to keep in mind, is field care of the cape when it is 90 degrees or warmer out and some of that "shedding" may be slippage. If the buck is shedding or slipping when you bring it to the taxidermist it will not be fixed at the tannery and you may be advised to replace the cape. Velvet bucks may not be the most beautiful cape to put on a mount, but they are what you harvested......

it appears to me that the mount pictured is mounted with the summer cape.

Dale

[EAS]

I tell you what folks... Dale at Wild Heritage Taxidermy did a great job on my Velvet buck. just finished last week, you can see photos of him finished. i chose to use his summer coat, ragged as it may be, it’s the buck I harvested and I love it. one thing I can say to everyone hunting in the heat is be prepared. like Dale said in many of his posts, keep the hide cool and keep the velvet antlers cool. Dale uses and sells a preservative that should be applied right after you take the animal, and it helps maintain the hide and prevent slippage – Dale maybe you can expand on the product I’m referring to as I forget the name of it.

Anyway folks, take a look at my buck taken last August in the 90 degree heat. Dale preserved the original velvet antlers and hide. It was important to me that they not be flocked and the hide be from the buck I harvested. I couldn’t be happier with how my trophy turned out. BIG thanks to Dale and Heather at Wild Heritage!!

[Gr8 White Jr]

This is a great post! Thanks for all the valuable info!

 

What exactly is the 'freeze dried' method? Are the velvet antlers just put in a regular freezer for a period of time or is there more to it?

 

-Tracy

[ECHOLS28]

THE ANTLERS ARE PLACED IN A FREEZE-DRY MACHINE FOR A UN DETERMINED AMOUNT OF TIME ALL ACCORDING HOW BIG THEY ARE AND THE MACHINE WILL BE RUNNING WELL BELOW -0 AND THE VACUUM WILL PULL ALL THE MOISTURE OUT AND FREEZE DRY THE ANTLERS. IT KEEPS THE VELVET SOFT AND WILL BE THE SAME COLOR. YOU CAN GET YOUR ANTLERS FREEZE DRYED RIGHT HERE AT BRANDON'S TAXIDERMY STUDIO IN PHOENIX STARTING THIS HUNTING SEASON.

 

 

PRICES STARTING AT $75.00 ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE CALL BRANDON @602-370-3844 OR EMAIL SAWBOY@MAC.COM

[Coues Sniper]

Hey Brandon, who asked you. Way to poach off another guys thread. You won't be seeing any of my business.

[Eagle Eye]

Uh oh lol

[ceg]

Dale is correct about the preservation methods of velvet antlers. There is no real way to totally preserve them and prevent bugs from possibley getting to them, but with a little maintentance there should not be a problem. I use the freeze dry method for preserving the antlers that come into my shop because I like the fact that it creates minimal shrinkage. I soak all antlers in a strong borax solution prior to running them in the freeze dryer. Then after they are mounted I rub some powdered borax down into the velvet. Borax is a natural bug repelent and helps to deter bugs. This is something everybody should do to their velvet antlers once a year in my opinion. It only takes about 10 minutes and borax is readily available at most stores as a laundry booster. I recommend people dust and groom their mounts once a year and this is a good time to give their velvet antlers a good borax rubdown. If you have any questions feel free to pm me as I don't get to check posts on here very often.

[gonehuntin]

I still have my aug buck in the freezer...this gives me a few ideas

[WildHeritageTaxidermy]

Time to bring this post up again as a reminder to everyone on cape and velvet care during these early hunts.

Good luck to everyone!!!!

[bonecollector]

Thanks for bringing this up again. I was about to start a new thread on this topic.

[ready2hunt]

Question- I am going to be pretty far in....what does it cost to have antlers flocked after?

[Viper]

Dale is correct about the preservation methods of velvet antlers. There is no real way to totally preserve them and prevent bugs from possibley getting to them, but with a little maintentance there should not be a problem. I use the freeze dry method for preserving the antlers that come into my shop because I like the fact that it creates minimal shrinkage. I soak all antlers in a strong borax solution prior to running them in the freeze dryer. Then after they are mounted I rub some powdered borax down into the velvet. Borax is a natural bug repelent and helps to deter bugs. This is something everybody should do to their velvet antlers once a year in my opinion. It only takes about 10 minutes and borax is readily available at most stores as a laundry booster. I recommend people dust and groom their mounts once a year and this is a good time to give their velvet antlers a good borax rubdown. If you have any questions feel free to pm me as I don't get to check posts on here very often.

 

Is it a good idea to use borax on the cape portion of the mount once a year too? Or, is there little risk of bugs getting into the cape?

[bowhuntaz1]

Dale and Heather are in the heart of unit 23 in Young. They do great work.

[WildHeritageTaxidermy]

Dale is correct about the preservation methods of velvet antlers. There is no real way to totally preserve them and prevent bugs from possibley getting to them, but with a little maintentance there should not be a problem. I use the freeze dry method for preserving the antlers that come into my shop because I like the fact that it creates minimal shrinkage. I soak all antlers in a strong borax solution prior to running them in the freeze dryer. Then after they are mounted I rub some powdered borax down into the velvet. Borax is a natural bug repelent and helps to deter bugs. This is something everybody should do to their velvet antlers once a year in my opinion. It only takes about 10 minutes and borax is readily available at most stores as a laundry booster. I recommend people dust and groom their mounts once a year and this is a good time to give their velvet antlers a good borax rubdown. If you have any questions feel free to pm me as I don't get to check posts on here very often.

 

Is it a good idea to use borax on the cape portion of the mount once a year too? Or, is there little risk of bugs getting into the cape?

If your cape has been properly tanned there should be little risk of getting bugs in the the cape. If you already have a mount with bug problems,(ie..an improperly mounted sheep or goat mount) all your mounts are at risk as the bugs will move out of that mount to others.